The Book of Ruth

I’m a bit hesitant to call this a book. At some three pages and roughly fifteen minutes of reading time, this might more accurately be called the Pamphlet of Ruth. It’s a rather short accounting of how Ruth, recently widowed, insisted on staying with her mother-in-law rather than returning to other family, and of how she ultimately would start the family line that would give us King David with a man named Boaz.

Really.

That’s it.

We’ve already touched upon books of the Bible that are referred to but weren’t seen fit for inclusion, and now we get the inclusion of a book that could’ve really been a prologue to some other book given the scant information contained therein. Thus is life. Onward!

An Education

An Education is the tale of a young high school girl Jenny (Carey Mulligan) on the cusp of graduation and womanhood who catches the attentions and affections of an older man David (Peter Sarsgaard) whose charms work not only on her, but on her rather rigid parents (played to good effect by Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour).

As the relationship develops, Jenny grows into a woman who’s quite convinced she has the world figured out, but is that really the case, or are there more shades of gray than she at first thought?

This film has a largely British feel to it (no, not Monty Python-British). It’s very well acted and has a fairly compelling storyline, but the overall mood is rather subdued (compared to, say, a more Americanized equivalent). This isn’t to suggest this is a bad thing, but merely a disclaimer of sorts if you haven’t appreciated such offerings in the past. Overall, I found the movie quite engaging (and particularly enjoyed Molina as the father), and I’d recommend it for a viewing.